1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the disclosure are directed to forwarding multicast packets over different layer-2 segments.
2. Description of the Related Art
In computer networking, a single layer-2 (i.e. data link layer) network may be partitioned, or segmented, to create multiple distinct broadcast domains. Such a domain is referred to as a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN). These broadcast domains are mutually isolated so that packets can only pass between them via one or more routers.
Currently, there is no mechanism to forward multicast packets over different VLANs. This is a disadvantage in cloud computing data centers, which are often designed as different layer-2 domains. As such, fault notifications from one data center will not be propagated to another since they are in different VLANs. However, applications running across different data centers should have the ability to know about fault notifications at other data centers. Currently, this must be done manually or by an automated mechanism at the application level.
Accordingly, there is a need for a mechanism to propagate multicast packets across multiple VLANs. Such a mechanism would save time over manual monitoring and would allow application programmers to write more efficient algorithms for fault notification across multiple data centers.